Not even Vista SP1 escapes next Patch Tuesday

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Five out of the eight security patches to be released next week as part of Microsoft's monthly patching cycle are critical, the software giant has said.

It also revealed in its pre-patch Tuesday bulletin that a critical update affects every version of its operating system (OS), including the first service pack (SP1) for Vista and the latest server OS, Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 to the public five weeks ago and Windows Vista SP1 only a fortnight ago.

And, although details pre-patch details are always sketchy, Microsoft said the corresponding flaw could enable remote code execution on an infected system.

Some security experts have linked the flaw identified in even the most recent OS versions to Microsoft's release of some of its protocols in February. Graham Cluely, senior technology consultant at Sophos, told IT PRO there may be a link: "We want Microsoft to release information about their products to help developers, but it can also attract malware writers."

But he added: "It may also just be that, with the difficulty of keeping track of all of its different versions, it decided to just patch the latest ones too, in case it might have to do so later."

The other four of the five patches given Microsoft's highest, "critical" rating also target Windows, as well as versions of Office and Internet Explorer. One includes the Office scheduling and control tool known as Project. And another affects Microsoft's VBScript and Jscript languages in Windows 2000, XP and 2003 OS.

The Office business and technical drawing application, Visio is the subject of one of the updates rated "important". And security experts speculated both Project and Visio flaws were likely to focus on their document file formats. The other two important updates affect all versions of Windows and involve spoofing or elevation of privilege exploits.

Microsoft will replace its April patch notice with the full update, next Tuesday at 1pm Eastern US or 6pm BST.

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